


Color My World

by Mrgoodbar



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Bucky still dies, Has nothing to do with holidays or New Year Sorry, I don't know what else to tag, I'm Sorry, M/M, Soulmates, kinda sad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-30
Updated: 2017-12-30
Packaged: 2019-02-24 06:14:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,980
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13207716
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mrgoodbar/pseuds/Mrgoodbar
Summary: Steven Grant Rogers considered himself a lucky guy. If he were to ever say this out loud, he could only imagine the looks he’d receive. See, Steve, as he liked to be called, was tiny and very sickly. He weighed ninety-five pounds soaking wet and his list of medical problems was probably about as tall as he was, all five feet and four inches.While he was small, unadmirable and generally disliked for his small stature and effeminate physique, he could see color.Everyone is born seeing only black and white The only person who can show you color is your soulmate. When your soulmate dies though, the color leaves and you're stuck with black and white again.





	Color My World

**Author's Note:**

> Hello readers! 
> 
> So, if any of you are reading _The Second Set of Rules_ I will be working on that soon... hopefully... 
> 
> Anyway, here's this because I found a writing prompt for this and I loved it. So... hope you enjoy :)

Steven Grant Rogers considered himself a lucky guy. If he were to ever say this out loud, he could only imagine the looks he’d receive. See, Steve, as he liked to be called, was tiny and very sickly. He weighed ninety-five pounds soaking wet and his list of medical problems was probably about as tall as he was, all five feet and four inches. 

 

While he was small, unadmirable and generally disliked for his small stature and effeminate physique, he could see color. 

 

Most people would go their entire lives and never see the smallest speck of color. Because if you saw color, you knew you were destined to live the rest of your life happy. Seeing color meant someone had introduced you to it. That person made the world pretty; they brought color to your world.

 

It meant you finally met your soulmate, the one person out of billions who was  _ made _ for you by the Gods. 

 

Societies around the World celebrated soulmates and the arrival of color. They were treated great, like royalty. 

 

It was rare to see color, estimated one in ten million will find their soulmate in their lives and most people who could usually wouldn’t see it until they were in their thirties or forties. Most people believed that meeting your soulmate so late in life was because the person wasn’t ready yet. That they needed the perfect time to discover their “other.” So, needless to say, it was practically unheard of to meet your soulmate at eleven. 

 

But Steve did. 

 

It was in 1929 and he had been walking to the park one day to stretch his legs in mid-October. The chill had just started to set in and he had been focusing on wrapping his thin jacket tighter around his small frame. He was so caught up in it, in fact, that he didn’t even hear the sounds of footsteps behind him. 

 

As he passed the mouth of an alleyway, a set of hands roughly grabbed his jacket and shoved him into the alley. The shove was so forceful that he fell flat on his face into the cold, unforgiving ground. His hands shot out to catch himself but his knees still slammed into the ground violently. 

 

Hearing a couple of laughs above him, Steve ignored the pain in his scraped knees and sore hands turned around and shakily, buy surely, stood to face his attackers. 

 

Two older boys, probably around thirteen or fourteen, stood before him. One boy had light gray hair and towered over the other slightly-hunched, dark-haired boy beside him. 

 

He had seen these boys bullying other kids before. He had, of course, called them out and stood up to them, giving the little kids time to get away. But his interference seemed to have another effect. The boys had decided to focus solely on Steve.  _ Which _ , Steve thought,  _ isn’t so bad as long as they don’t bully any more little kids. _

 

“If it isn’t lil’ Stevie Rogers…” the light-haired boy, Jonathan, said. 

 

Steve huffed at the nickname. 

 

“I wonder what he’s doin’ all out on his lonesome?” Asked the other boy, Henry, with fake curiosity. 

 

“Hmmm,” Jonathan pretended to think for a moment. “I don’t know.” He paused then his face lit up as though a thought just occurred to him. “Wanna know what I heard from my Uncle earlier at the shop on the corner?” 

 

“What’d ya hear?” Henry asked excitedly. 

 

“I heard that lil’ Stevie here’s ma is a  _ Paddy Wagon! _ ” 

 

The two chuckled and Steve felt his anger bubble and his hands clenched into fists at his sides. Before Steve could even think about doing anything, Jonathan addressed Steve again. 

 

“Here’s how it’s gonna go, mollycoddle,” Jonathan spat. “You’re gonna give us your lunch money, and before you begin to deny it, we saw your ma give you a nice penny this morning, and we’ll leave you alone for, say, the rest of the day.” 

 

Henry was nodding along while glaring at Steve. 

 

Steve just puffed out his delicate chest and stood straighter in an attempt to make himself seem taller. 

 

“No,” Steve said defiantly before drawing his arm back, made an even tighter fist than what was clenched at his sides and threw it towards Jonathan. 

 

The light haired boy easily ducked this punch and because of Steve’s slow reflexes, he didn’t have time to even register, let alone attempt to block the next punch from Henry that hit him square on the left side of his face. 

 

When a searing pain erupted in his cheek and jaw, Steve crumpled to the ground like a marionette whose strings had been cut.

 

While Steve moved his hand to soothe his aching face, he heard through the pain induced fog that filled his mind, a voice call out angrily, “Hey!” 

 

The next thing Steve knew, he heard the rustle of jackets, the stomping of rushing feet and he knew that Jonathan and Henry had left. 

 

Confused, Steve sat up slowly and watched a new boy walk up to him. When the boy was near he heard the boy mutter, “A couple of unlicked cubs, they were.”  This brought a smile to Steve’s face before he let it drop. He didn’t need to let the boy see him smiling. 

 

Steve struggled to get to his feet and when he finally managed to stand balanced, he said, “I was fine on my own.” 

 

“Well, from where I was, it didn’t look it,” the new boy said. 

 

While the boy spoke, Steve had been busy dusting his clothes off and he had yet to look up at the boy. It was when the boy finished speaking that he looked up and straight into dark grey, nearly black, eyes.  

 

When their eyes connected, everything seemed to pause. The noise around them seem to come to an abrupt halt, but neither noticed. They were too enraptured in the other’s eyes. 

 

To Steve’s astonishment, before his very eyes, the boys light skin slowly began to change. It was color, he realized. It was light, like the grey before, but softer, and warmer, somehow. 

 

His eyes darted around the boys face. His hair stayed the dark color it had been, same as his eyes. When Steve moved to his lips, the dark grey started to disappear and it was slowly replaced. A new color, brighter and very pretty seeped in. He also noted that the color of his lips was also on the tip of his nose and in small circles on his cheeks. The boy was beautiful. 

 

Steve was mesmerized by the sight before him but he didn’t have the words to describe it. 

 

Daring to look away from the boys face, Steve glanced upwards toward the sky and saw a soft color.  _ That’s pretty, _ Steve thought.  _ It must be blue. _ He suddenly remembered when they were taught the main colors and where they were located. Even though everyone only saw black, white and shades of grey, it’s taught young so if they were to ever meet their soulmate, they know a few colors. He remembered what the teacher had said,  _ “Red is on apples, and taxi cabs are yellow. Orange is the same color as the fruit and grass is green. Blue is the sky, purple is grapes and brown is wood.” _

 

The more he looked around the more new and different colors he saw but while he knew some names, he had no way to connect the names to the colors. In his head, he sighed sadly. 

 

Remembering the boy again, Steve looked back at him, pulled his hand out and said, “Steven Grant Rogers. Call me Steve, though.” 

 

The boy smiled brightly, white teeth shining, and met Steve’s hand with his own, “James Buchanan Barnes, but my friends call me Bucky.” 

 

“Bucky?” 

 

“There’s so many James’ and I don’t want people to get confused.” Bucky shrugged. 

 

Steve returned the smile just as brightly as Bucky and even though they’d met minutes prior, Steve never wanted Bucky to leave him ever again. 

 

Letting go of Bucky’s hand, his own suddenly felt much colder. He shivered slightly. 

 

“So,” Steve began. “How come I’ve never seen ya ‘round before?” 

 

“My family just moved here from Indiana. My ma wanted a change of scenery and my dad got a job offer, so here we are.” He held his arms out wide. 

 

They began to walk from the alleyway, heading towards the park and chatting aimlessly on the way. The park was full of color and they both stopped to admire the new colors that they hadn’t seen previously in the alley-way. 

 

“Green,” Steve said suddenly. Bucky looked at him curiosity. 

 

“That’s what the color of the grass is. I learned that at school. My teacher also said that the leaves are green, too.” They both looked at the bright colored leaves. There were a few different colors though. There were some leaves the same color as Bucky’s lips and the others were lighter but still very similar to the color on Bucky’s lips. 

 

But what confused him was that the grass on the ground and the color of the leaves were different. 

 

“Those all can’t be green, can they?” Bucky asked. 

 

“Hmm… I remember that my teacher said that the leaves change color before they fall so maybe the leaves aren’t green right now?” Steve offered. 

 

Bucky smiled. “That’s probably it.” 

 

They continued in silence for a little walk longer, before Bucky broke the silence. “My mom and dad are soulmates… how ‘bout we go ask them ‘bout the colors?’ 

 

“Okay!” Steve said excitedly. 

 

They left the park and didn’t have to walk much longer before Bucky was leading Steve up the step to a small house that was painted white. 

 

“My house is the next block over!” Steve said once he realized where they were. 

 

“Really? That’s awesome!” 

 

Bucky turned the doorknob and trudged inside calling out to his mom. 

 

A dark-haired, but greying, lady walked out from a door to their right wiping her hands on her apron. She was taller than Bucky but was still pretty short.  _ She can’t be more than five feet tall, _ Steve thought. Even though she was greying and had a few age lines, it didn’t take away from her beauty, and it was easy to see Bucky got his looks from his ma. 

 

She smiled when she saw Bucky and smiled wider as she saw Steve. She had a curious glint in her eye, and opened her mouth ready to speak but snapped it shut when Bucky started talking. 

 

“Guess what, Ma? Guess,” he paused briefly before talking again, not giving time for his ma to answer. “I can see color!” he yelled.  “This is my soulmate, Steve.” He turned around, pulled Steve forward and lightly shoved him towards his ma. 

 

Bucky’s ma looked absolutely astonished. “You’re so young…” she said faintly.

“I know! Isn’t it amazing?” Bucky asked. 

 

“Yes, yes, it’s very wonderful, James.” She seemed to snap from her momentary stupor and stepped towards Steve. 

 

“Hello, Steve, my name is Winifred, but you can call me Winnie.” She smiled brightly and it reminded him of Bucky’s smile. 

 

“Hello, ma’am, it’s wonderful to meet you.” 

 

“Oh Bucky, you’ve got yourself a real gentleman, don’t’cha?” She giggled slightly before, turning back towards the room she had just walked out of. “Come on,” she called. “I’m sure you have questions.” 

 

Steve and Bucky followed her to the kitchen where they sat at the table and Winnie bustled around in the kitchen, with what looked like trying to get them a small snack. 

 

She turned around with a small plate and two cookies on it. 

 

“Here ya go,” she sat before pulling out the chair and sitting down. 

 

Bucky quickly grabbed the cookie and munched on it and Steve slowly grabbed the cookie and took a small bite. It was delicious! 

 

“Thank you, Mrs. Barnes.” 

 

“It’s Winnie, darling.”

 

“My ma says it’s disrespectful to call an adult by their first names, and I won’t be disrespectful to you, ma’am.” 

 

“A fine gentleman, you are,” she said quietly. “You are very welcome, Steve darling.” 

 

Bucky seemed momentarily content with eating his cookie but soon enough he finished and started to talk once more. 

 

“Ma, can you show us all the colors, please?” he asked. She agreed easily and they spent the rest of the afternoon learning all the colors they could find. 

 

They learned that the colors of the leaves outside were red, orange and yellow. The lightest being yellow. He learned that red was the color of Bucky’s lips and that he had been correct about the color of the sky. He learned that the small flower on Winnie’s apron was pink and the color of the chain around Winnie’s neck was silver. When he asked about the color of their skin, Winnie said that Bucky’s was olive and Steve’s was tan. 

 

But the time the sun was setting, Steve’s head was full of all the colors and their names. He smiled contently. 

 

Winnie gasped when she saw the sun had set. “Oh Steve, you must let me walk you home.”

 

“Oh, it’s alright, Mrs. Barnes, I live over on the next block.” 

 

“This isn’t up for debates, no arguments. Get your jackets, boys, and we’ll walk you home, Steve.” 

 

Within the next few minutes, they were all bundled up in their jackets. Walking outside, the cold nearly knocked the breath out of Steve and his asthma didn’t help. The air was raw and nippy. They began their walk and while Steve had been reluctant to leave the Barnes’, he was glad to see his house. 

 

Opening the door to his house, he called out to his ma. She called back and came into the living room where he had led the Barnes’. 

 

“Hi ma, you need to meet someone.” 

 

Winnie chose this moment to interrupt. She stood and walked to Sarah. 

 

“Hi there. My name is Winifred Barnes and this is my son, James Buchanan, who everyone calls Bucky. We just moved here, into a house the next street over. I hope you don’t mind that we’re here. I just thought it a good idea to meet,” Mrs. Barnes said in a kind voice. 

 

Sarah smiled. “Oh, it’s fine. I just wasn’t expecting anyone. My name is Sarah Rogers and it seems like you already know Steve.” 

 

“Yes, indeed. Steve, would you like to share the news?” Mrs. Barnes asked turning to Steve. 

 

Steve nodded eagerly. “I can see color!” 

 

Sarah’s eyes widen comically and she gasped. “Oh, that’s wonderful news, Steve.” 

 

“And Bucky’s my soulmate,” Steve stated proudly while grabbing Bucky’s hand and holding it up for her to see. “Mrs. Barnes has been teaching us the colors  _ all day. _ ” 

 

Sarah smiled again before turning her eyes to Winnie. “Thank you,” she said. 

 

“It’s been no problem at all. Steve’s been an absolute darling all day. He has such wonderful manners. I’ve never met another boy his age with manners as his.” 

 

The two mother continued to chat on and Steve turned to Bucky. They all chatted for a while until it became much darker and Mrs. Barnes had been worried about not being able to see their way home, so after their goodbye’s they left to return home. 

 

“A very interesting day you’ve had, Steve,” His mother commented. 

 

Steve could only nod his head. “He’s my best friend.” 

 

_ He’s a lot more than that, Steve, one day… _ she thought. “You’ll always need to protect each other. Do whatever you need to because he’s the only one you’ll ever get. And if he’s gone the color goes, too,” she said the last part quietly. 

 

Steve’s eyes widened in horror. “You mean…” he trailed off. 

 

Sarah nodded grimly. “If he dies, Steve… you’ll  _ never _ see color again.”   

 

“But… but…” he was at a loss for words. 

 

Sarah sighed deeply. “I know it’s a grim topic, Steve, but you need to know.” She paused briefly looking as though she was preparing her words. “When your father died, I didn’t even need to wait for the telegram because I knew the moment he died. I was working and I blinked then the color was gone…” she trailed off with a frown on her face. 

 

Steve stared at his mother. He never knew his mom and dad were soulmates. His thoughts turned to Bucky and the thought of losing him brought a sharp ache to his chest. 

 

It was in this moment that he vowed he’d do everything he could to protect Bucky. 

 

\--- 

 

It was December 1941 and Steve had been spending the day at a community art center, taking an art class when the doors burst open and a young man ran it. He immediately ran to the small radio in the corner of the room and flicked it on. 

 

“... The Japanese have attacked Pearl Harbor Hawaii by air. President Roosevelt has just announced the attack was on all naval and military activity on the principal island of Oahu… We take you to Washington. The details now are unavailable…" 

 

Steve didn’t hear the rest as he rushed from the room. 

 

Back at home, he paced the length of the small apartment repeatedly. He wrung his hands anxiously as he waited for Bucky to get home. 

 

It wasn’t much long later that Bucky walked through the door, a frown placed firmly on his face. 

 

“There gonna declare war, Bucky, any day now. I’m gonna enlist,” Steve told Bucky before he could even take his shoes off. 

 

Bucky froze. “You can’t, Steve. You’re too sick.”

 

It was Steve’s turn to freeze and he glared at Bucky. “So you’re saying that I’m so small to go fight for our country, Bucky, is that it?” he was yelling by the end of the sentence. 

 

“What- no- Steve- that’s not what I-” Bucky stuttered before Steve interrupted him. 

 

“I’m gonna enlist Buck and you ain’t gonna stop me,” Steve said finally. 

 

“Fine,” Bucky said before turning around and stomping out the door, slamming it behind him.

 

\---

 

It was later that evening and Steve was laying in bed unable to sleep. 

 

He sat up when he heard the front door open then shifted off the bed to pull the curtain over to see the front door. 

 

“Hey Buck,” Steve said quietly.

 

“Hey Stevie,” Bucky replied. 

 

Sighing deeply, Steve moved over to Bucky and placed a hand on his shoulder. It was Bucky’s turn to sigh. 

 

“Look, Steve, I’m sorry. I just don’t want you to enlist. I know nothing's gonna change your mind but I’m scared ‘bout this all. What if someone is foolish enough to accept you into the army and then I have to worry about your scrawny lil’ butt getting hurt…”

 

Steve quickly moved to hug Bucky. “I’m sorry, Buck, but I can’t do nothin’,” 

 

“I know,” Bucky sighed. 

 

—- 

 

He had been flying in Howard Stark’s plane, just about ready to drop when suddenly the color began to leave his vision. 

 

Trying to stay calm, he took deep breaths, closed his eyes tight and after a few minutes or so, opened them again. 

 

The color was back. 

 

\---

 

“Bucky grab my hand!” Steve pleaded as he reached his arm out trying to grab Bucky. He moved out of the train cart and held tight to the hole in the side of the train and stretched for Bucky. 

 

Bucky slowed started to shift his way towards Steve. When Steve was in reaching distance, he pushed his hand out and just as their fingers brushed, a feeling of relief began to fill Steve until the railing that was holding Bucky snapped. 

 

His screams were loud even over the wind that wiped around him. His chest was aching deeply, sharp pains stabbed through his lungs. For a few minutes he thought his asthma returned; he couldn’t breathe. He forced a few deep lungfuls of air and moved back into the train cart where he crumpled to the ground near his shield. Steve slammed his eyes together and willed the tears away. 

 

Minutes passed and he finally opened his eyes… 

 

...And all the color was gone. This time though it didn’t come back. 

 

\--- 

 

When the train finally stopped, Steve got off, almost in a haze. His eyes were red and puffy and he didn’t look up from the ground. His entire body was shaking. 

 

“Hey Cap, where’s Sarge?” asked Dum Dum when he saw their leader all alone. 

 

Steve only shook his head. 

 

Since Steve refused to look up, he missed the looks shared between the Commandos. 

 

“Cap. Where is Bucky?” The forceful question came from Monty. 

 

Steve slowly lifted his head. “He fell,” he managed to choke out before succumbing to his sobs. 

 

“Well, we’ll send out a search party. He could still be alive,” said Gabe hopefully. 

 

Steve halted his sobbing and looked up at him shaking his head. “No. Buck and I were soulmates… and my color is gone,” he whispered before wiping the tears and walking away to his and Bucky’s, now solely his, tent. 

 

\---

Steve pointed the nose of the plane down towards the ice-covered ocean. 

 

“I’m sorry Peg. But Bucky’s waiting for me. I’ll get to see him again.” 

 

“It’s okay, Steve,” Peggy said softly. “We’ll look for you and bring you home, okay?” 

 

Steve nodded even though he knew Peggy couldn’t see the motion. “Can you look for Bucky, too? Send us home to Brooklyn. We’ll be-” the radio cut off as the plane hit the icy water and before he knew it, cold blackness consumed him. 

 

\--- 

 

Feeling something soft beneath his head almost made him sit upright. He couldn’t move though because he felt almost… disconnected from his body. Slowly he opened his eyes but had to close them at the bright light around him. He opened them again and kept blinking until he was comfortable enough to keep them open. Slowly he started to move each of his body parts then slowly sat up, moving his legs off the bed. 

 

He couldn’t name it, but something felt… wrong. Before he had time to ponder it, a woman walked through the door. 

 

“Morning,” she said with a smile and closed the door. Steve looked at her. The clothes she was wearing was wrong, he realized. She looked at her watch and said, “Or should I say afternoon?” 

 

“Where am I?” he asked. 

 

“You’re in a recovering room in New York City.” 

 

“Where am I really?” 

 

She smiled strangely before saying, “I’m afraid I don’t understand. 

 

“The game, it’s from May 1941, I know ‘cause I was there,” he paused to stand and move closer to the woman. “So I’m gonna ask you again; Where am I?” 

 

“Captain Rogers-” she began before he interrupted her. 

 

“Who are you?” he said loudly. Before she could say anything more or he could do anything, two men wearing black, while carrying guns walked into the room. Immediately a sense of panic filled him and when one of the men advanced on him, he threw them to one wall only to have the wall breakaway revealing an even bigger room. 

 

He ran as fast as he could and slammed open doors seeking an exit. When he found the exit, burst from the building and ran. 

 

He didn’t stop until he came to a square that looked vaguely familiar. He spun around in circles.  _ Everything was wrong _ , he thought. 

 

Then it hit him. 

 

It wasn’t the weird screens with bright lights or the cars that looked different than he remembered. It wasn’t the clothes all the people were wearing. It wasn’t the weird room he had just been in or the woman who was trying to trick him. 

 

No, it was none of that. 

 

The problem he had had since he woke up, was that he could see color. 

 

_ He could see the color again.  _

 

**Author's Note:**

> If there are any historical inaccuracies, don't be shy. Please tell me. 
> 
> Let me know what you think in the comments, :) Thanks for clicking. 
> 
> My [Tumblr](https://mrgoodbar11213.tumblr.com).


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